1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telephones, including landline and wireless telephones, and more particularly to a method and an apparatus for converting a voice signal, received from a remote telephone, to a text signal.
2. Background of the Invention
With the widespread use of landline and cellular telephones, telephone network providers have expanded the number and types of services and information available to such telephones. Some services or information include, for example, voice mail, call waiting, call forwarding, three way calling, caller identification, call blocking, automatic call back, basic and enhanced directory assistance, etc. However, the increased number and type of these services and information provides a user of a telephone with more information than ever before. Sometimes a user of a telephone is not able to quickly or efficiently understand or retain the amount of information received while using the telephone. For example, when a person is using a cellular phone while walking or driving, it is challenging for the person to record, such as using a pen or pencil, directions, a name or even a phone number received as a voice signal from a remote telephone. Moreover, the person must manually enter the recorded information into a memory unit of a telephone, a personal digital assistant, a personal computer, or another electronic device to electronically store the information for later use or reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,052, issued May 5, 1998, entitled “Cellular Telephone Management System” discloses at column 13, lines 8-29 a method for operating a cellular telephone. The cellular telephone receives a phone number, represented by dual tone multiple frequency (DTMF) signals generated by a touch tone keypad, from a remote telephone operated by a remote caller during a telephone call. The DTMF signals received by the cellular telephone are converted into a phone number, stored in a scratchpad memory in the cellular telephone and shown in a display of the cellular telephone. When the user of cellular telephone is finished talking to the remote caller and terminates the call, the number entered in the scratchpad memory remains in the display. To dial the phone number shown in the display and stored in the scratchpad memory, the user of the cellular telephone depresses the send key on the keyboard of the cellular telephone. Although this patent discloses receiving and storing a phone number represented by DTMF signals generated by the remote telephone, this patent does not disclose that the cellular telephone receives a voice signal from a remote telephone and converts the voice signal to a text signal for storage in the cellular telephone.
Motorola, Inc., having a place of business at 600 North U.S. Highway 45, Libertyville, Ill., 60048, U.S.A. and having an internet web site located at http://www.motorola.com, sells a cellular telephone model V3620 with a built in voice answering machine. The voice answering machine records voice signals sent from a remote telephone when the user of cellular telephone is not available to answer an incoming telephone call from the remote telephone and plays back the recorded voice signals at the user's convenience. Although this cellular telephone receives and stores voice signals received from the remote telephone when the user of the cellular telephone is not available, this cellular telephone does not convert the received or stored voice signals from the remote telephone into text signals for storage in the cellular telephone.
TT Systems, Corporation, having a business location at Seven Odell Plaza, Yonkers, N.Y., 10701, U.S.A. and having an internet web site located at http://www.ttsystems.com, sells a series of devices called Tele-Recorders™, including the Tele-Recorder™ 100, 300, 400 and 500 products. These devices are external devices that connect to landline telephones for recording live conversations on the phone line connected to the landline telephone that is in use. Some of these devices may also be used for dictation, personal memos, or recording local conferences when the landline telephone is not in use. Some of these devices have a voice activated system which starts and stops recording by detecting voice or sound so that no recording occurs during silent pauses. Although these devices receive and store voice signals received from a remote telephone during a telephone call, these devices do not convert the received or stored voice signals into text signals for storage in the devices.
Dragon Systems, Incorporated, having a business location at 320 Nev. Street, Newton, Ma 02460, U.S.A. and having an internet web site located at http://www.dragonsys.com, sells a portable recorder called Dragon NaturallySpeaking™ Mobile. The recorder records voice signals for dictation and personal memos. Dragon System's voice transcription software installed in a personal computer automatically transcribes either recorded voice signals from the recorder or live voice signals into text signals for storage in the personal computer. Although the recorder receives and stores voice signals, the recorder does not convert the voice signals into text signals for storage in the recorder, the recorder is not a telephone and the recorder does not receive the voice signals sent from a remote telephone. Further, although the personal computer transcribes voice signals into text signals using the voice transcription software, the personal computer is not a telephone and the personal computer does not receive the voice signals received from a remote telephone.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and an apparatus for converting a voice signal, received from a remote telephone, to a text signal to permit electronic storage of the text signal in a memory unit thereby eliminating the need for a person to manually record the received information and then to manually transfer the recorded information into the memory unit.